Assessing Escherichia coli and microbial source tracking markers in the Rio Grande in the South Valley, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2020–21
Rebecca E. Travis, Kate Wilkins, Christopher M. Kephart
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5019
The Rio Grande, in southern Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a Clean Water Act Section 303(d) Category 5 impaired reach for Escherichia coli (E. coli). The reach is 5 miles in length, extending from Tijeras Arroyo south to the Isleta Pueblo boundary. An evaluation of E. coli and microbial source tracking...
Cross-sectional associations between drinking water arsenic and urinary inorganic arsenic in the US: NHANES 2003-2014
Maya Spaur, Melissa Lombard, Joseph D. Ayotte, Benjamin C. Bostick, Steven N. Chillrud, Ana Navas-Acien, Anne E. Nigra
2023, Environmental Research (227)
Background: Inorganic arsenic is a potent carcinogen and toxicant associated with numerous adverse health outcomes. The contribution of drinking water from private wells and regulated community water systems (CWSs) to total inorganic arsenic exposure is not clear. Objectives: To determine the association between drinking water arsenic estimates and urinary arsenic concentrations...
Assessing stormwater control measure inventories from 23 cities in the United States
Benjamin Choat, Amber Pulido, Aditi S. Bhaskar, Rebecca Hale, Harry X. Zhang, Thomas Meixner, Lauren McPhillips, Kristina G. Hopkins, Jennifer Cherrier, Chingwen Cheng
2023, Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability (3)
Since the 1987 Clean Water Act Section 319 amendment, the United States Government has required and funded the development of nonpoint source pollution programs with about $5 billion dollars. Despite these expenditures, nonpoint source pollution from urban watersheds is still a significant cause of impaired waters in the United States....
Maximum clutch size of an invasive Burmese Python (Python bivittatus) in Florida, USA
Andrea Faye Currylow, Teah Evers, Gretchen Erika Anderson, Lisa Marie McBride, Matthew McCollister, Jacquelyn C. Guzy, Christina Romagosa, Kristen Hart, Amy A. Yackel Adams
2023, Reptiles & Amphibians (30)
Native to southeastern Asia, the Burmese Python (Python bivittatus Kuhl 1820) is an invasive species established in southern Florida (Snow et al. 2007; Krysko et al. 2016; Krysko et al. 2019). Pythons are documented as having negative effects on the Greater Everglades Ecosystem and they have proven to be a...
Providing a framework for seagrass mapping in United States coastal ecosystems using high spatial resolution satellite imagery
Megan Coffer, David Graybill, Peter Whitman, Blake Schaeffer, Wilson Salls, Richard C Zimmerman, Victoria Hill, Marie Cindy Lebrasse, Jiang Li, Keith Darryl, Jim Kaldy, Philip D. Colarusso, Gary Raulerson, David H. Ward, Judson Kenworthy
2023, Journal of Environmental Management (337)
Seagrasses have been widely recognized for their ecosystem services, but traditional seagrass monitoring approaches emphasizing ground and aerial observations are costly, time-consuming, and lack standardization across datasets. This study leveraged satellite imagery from Maxar's WorldView-2 and WorldView-3 high spatial resolution,...
Community and citizen science on the Elwha River: Past, present, and future
M. V. Eitzel, Sarah A. Morley, Chelsea Behymer, Ryan Meyer, Anna Kagley, Heidi L. Ballard, Christopher Jadallah, Jeffrey J. Duda, Laurel Jennings, Ian M. Miller, Justin Stapleton, Anne Shaffer, Allyce Miller, Patrick B. Shafroth, Barbara Blackie
2023, Report
This report reflects on the past, present, and potential future of community and citizen science (CCS) in the Elwha River watershed, with particular focus on the years before and after a major restoration event: the removal of two dams that had impacted the river system for a century. We ask:...
Invasive Brook Stickleback Culaea inconstans minimally alters the trophic ecology of four native fishes in Wyoming, USA
Jacob S. Ruthvena, Annika W. Walters
2023, Food Webs (35)
Invasive species introductions are a primary threat facing populations of native freshwater fishes. There are multiple mechanisms by which an invader can affect native species, with competition for food resources being one mechanism that can lead to declines in the distribution and abundance of native species. Invaders that are trophic generalists may...
Further bacteriological analysis of annual Pheasantshell (Actinonaias pectorosa) mussel mortality events in the Clinch River (Virginia/Tennessee), USA, reveals a consistent association with Yokenella Regensburgei
Eric Leis, Sara Dziki, Jordan Richard, Rose Agbalog, Diane L. Waller, Joel G. Putnam, Susan Knowles, Tony Goldberg
2023, Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation (26) 1-10
Pheasantshell (Actinonaias pectorosa) mussels in the Clinch River (Tennessee/Virginia, USA) have declined dramatically in recent years. The bacterium Yokenella regensburgei was first isolated with high prevalence from Pheasantshells during the peak of a 2017 mortality event, but it was not identified after mortality subsided a few months later. Since 2017, Pheasantshell mortality...
A plea for Red Wolf conservation throughout Its recent distribution
L. David Mech, Ronald M. Nowak
2023, Southesatern Naturalist (22) N23-N27
Canis rufus (Red Wolf) is one of the most endangered mammals in North America. However, genes of the Red Wolf persist across much of the species' original range, carried predominantly within C. latrans (Coyote) populations. It is now known that such genes are distributed from extreme north-central Texas...
Impact of the dimethyl sulfoxide reductase superfamily on the evolution of biogeochemical cycles
Michael L. Wells, Minjae Kim, Denise M. Akob, Partha Basu, John F. Stolz
2023, Microbiology Spectrum (11)
The dimethyl sulfoxide reductase (or MopB) family is a diverse assemblage of enzymes found throughout Bacteria and Archaea. Many of these enzymes are believed to have been present in the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) of all cellular lineages. However, gaps in knowledge remain about how MopB enzymes evolved and how this diversification...
Foraging behavior of Raramuri Criollo vs. Angus cattle grazing California Chaparral and Colorado Plateau shrublands
Danielle M. Duni, Matthew M. McIntosh, Shelemia Nyamuryekung’e, Andres F. Cibils, Michael C. Duniway, Richard E. Estell, Sheri A. Spiegal, Alfredo L. Gonzalez, Melakeneh G. Gedefaw, Matthew Redd, Robert Paulin, Caitriana M. Steele, Santiago A. Utsumi, Andres R. Perea
2023, Journal of Arid Environments (213)
Selecting livestock genetics adapted to arid environments, such as Criollo cattle, is one of several strategies recommended for decreasing the vulnerability to climate change of ranching in the southwestern USA. Our objective was to determine whether desirable foraging traits of...
High-pass corner frequency selection for implementation in the USGS automated ground motion processing tool
María E. Ramos-Sepulveda, Grace Alexandra Parker, Eric M. Thompson, Scott J. Brandenberg, Meibai Li, Okan Ilhan, Youssef M.A. Hashash, Ellen M. Rathje, Jonathan P. Stewart
2023, Conference Paper, Geo-Congress 2023
Earthquake ground motion processing for next-generation attenuation (NGA) projects required human inspection to select high-pass corner frequencies (fcHP), which is time-intensive and subjective. With growth in the number of recordings per event and interest in enhancing repeatability, we sought to develop...
Gains and gaps in knowledge surrounding freshwater mollusk ecosystem services
Carla L. Atkinson, Garrett W Hopper, Danielle A. Kreeger, Jonathan Lopez, Alexa N Maine, Brandon James Sansom, Astrid Schwalb, Caryn C. Vaughn
2023, Freshwater Mollusk Biology and Conservation (26) 20-31
Ecosystems provide essential services to people including food, water, climate regulation, and aesthetic experiences. Biodiversity can enhance and stabilize ecosystem function and the resulting services natural systems provide. Freshwater mollusks are a diverse group that provide a variety of ecosystem services through their feeding habits...
Officially social: Developing a social media crisis communication strategy for USGS Volcanoes during the 2018 Kīlauea eruption
Wendy K. Stovall, Jessica L. Ball, Elizabeth G. Westby, M. Poland, Aleeza Wilkins, Katherine M. Mulliken
2023, Frontiers in Communication (8)
The USGS Volcano Science Center has a long history of science and crisis communication about volcanoes and their eruptions. Centered mainly on websites, email notifications, traditional media, and in-person interaction in the past, our toolkit has expanded in the last decade to include social media channels. This medium has...
Seed dispersal and tree legacies influence spatial patterns of plant invasion dynamics
Yuanming Lu, Junfei Xia, Lukas J. Magee, Don DeAngelis
2023, Frontiers in Applied Mathematics and Statistics (9)
Invasive plant species alter community dynamics and ecosystem properties, potentially leading to regime shifts. Here, the invasion of a non-native tree species into a stand of native tree species is simulated using an agent-based model. The model describes an invasive tree with fast growth and high seed production that...
Evaluation of potential stresses and hydrologic conditions driving water-level fluctuations in well ER-5-3-2, Frenchman Flat, southern Nevada
Tracie R. Jackson, Rebecca J. Frus
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5132
Well ER-5-3-2 is part of a well network designed to monitor long-term water levels and radionuclide concentrations downgradient from underground nuclear tests that occurred in Frenchman Flat, an area of the U.S. Department of Energy Nevada National Security Site in southern Nevada. Interpretation of monitoring records for well ER-5-3-2 was...
Selected anthropogenic contaminants in groundwater, Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District, eastern Nebraska, 1992–2020
Brent M. Hall, Cory L. Kavan, Amanda T. Flynn, Mikaela L. Cherry
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2023-5018
A study in cooperation with the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District was completed in 2019 to determine the concentration of contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) in groundwater in the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District, eastern Nebraska. Each well was sampled twice (in June and October or November) in 2019, totaling...
Preliminary machine learning models of manganese and 1,4-dioxane in groundwater on Long Island, New York
Leslie A. DeSimone
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5120
Manganese and 1,4-dioxane in groundwater underlying Long Island, New York, were modeled with machine learning methods to demonstrate the use of these methods for mapping contaminants in groundwater in the Long Island aquifer system. XGBoost, a gradient boosted, ensemble tree method, was applied to data from 910 wells for manganese...
Foreword
Xiaogang Ma, Matty Mookerjee, Leslie Hsu, Denise Hills
2023, Book chapter, Recent advancement in geoinformatics and data science
No abstract available....
Metabarcoding analysis of meiobenthic biodiversity along the Gulf of Mexico continental shelf
Pamela M. Brannock, Amanda Demopoulos, Stephen C. Landers, Damien S. Waits, Kenneth M. Halanych
2023, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (285)
This study explores how diverse the meiobenthic (meiofauna and other benthic micro-eukaryotes) community is throughout the United States Gulf of Mexico (GOM) continental shelf. In late 2010 and 2011, 51 sediment samples were collected along GOM from Texas through Florida at a range of depths (40m–496m). An additional six deep-sea slope sediment cores were collected...
Sex-biased infections scale to population impacts for an emerging wildlife disease
Macy J. Kailing, Joseph R. Hoyt, J. Paul White, Heather M. Kaarakka, Jennifer A. Redell, Ariel Elizabeth Leon, Tonie E. Rocke, John E. DePue, William H. Scullon, Katy L. Parise, Jeffrey T. Foster, A. Marm Kilpatrick, Kate E. Langwig
2023, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (290)
Demographic factors are fundamental in shaping infectious disease dynamics. Aspects of populations that create structure, like age and sex, can affect patterns of transmission, infection intensity and population outcomes. However, studies rarely link these processes from individual to population-scale effects. Moreover, the mechanisms underlying demographic differences in...
Rapid prototyping for quantifying belief weights of competing hypotheses about emergent diseases
Ellen Padgett Robertson, Daniel P. Walsh, Julien Martin, Thierry M. Work, Christina A. Kellogg, James S. Evans, Aine C. Hawthorn, Greta Aeby, Valerie J. Paul, Brian Walker, Yasu Kiryu, Cheryl M. Woodley, Julie L. Meyer, Stephanie M. Rosales, Michael S. Studivan, Jennifer Moore, Marilyn E. Brandt, Andrew Bruckner
2023, Journal of Environmental Management (337)
Emerging diseases can have devastating consequences for wildlife and require a rapid response. A critical first step towards developing appropriate management is identifying the etiology of the disease, which can be difficult to determine, particularly early in emergence. Gathering and synthesizing existing information about potential disease causes, by leveraging expert...
The RACE for freshwater biodiversity: Essential actions to create the social context for meaningful conservation
Kim Birnie-Gauvin, Abigail Lynch, Paul A. Franklin, Andrea J. Reid, Sean J. Landsman, David Tickner, James Dalton, Kim Aarestrup, Steve J. Cooke
2023, Conservation Science and Practice (5)
Freshwater habitats are experiencing two to three times the rate of biodiversity loss of terrestrial and marine habitats. As status quo actions within the conservation community are not reversing the downward trajectory for freshwater biodiversity, we propose four actions to shift the narrative such that freshwater biodiversity...
Update on U.S. Geological Survey Fundamental Science Practices
Fundamental Science Practices Advisory Council
2023, Circular 1503
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Fundamental Science Practices (FSP) are a set of standard principles fundamental to how USGS conducts and carries out its science activities and how resulting information products and data are reviewed, approved, and released. These policies, practices, philosophical premises, and operational principles serve as the foundation...
Why hibernate? Tests of four hypotheses to explain intraspecific variation in hibernation phenology
Austin A Z. Allison, Courtney J. Conway, Alice E Morris
2023, Functional Ecology (37) 1580-1593
Hibernation is a remarkable behaviour deployed by a diverse array of endotherms within many clades that greatly reduces metabolic need, but also has somatic costs. Hibernation in modern endotherms is often assumed to be an adaptation allowing animals to avoid extreme thermal conditions or food shortages in seasonal environments....
